Chapter 41 - Enies Lobby Pt 3

Patient AN: Aiming for a massive word count is all well and good, but this was just getting silly. Seriously, loyal fans, at the rate we were going, we were likely to hit 50,000 words, and though Ego thought it would be a good reward for your patience to do that, I pointed out that you may not have the patience to read through such a monster. So, nothing for it but to give you this, and leave you with another trademark of the Cross-Brain.

Xomniac AN: Our supremely sadistic beyond all reason cliffhangers that leave you salivating for more and more. Plus it gives us an extra payday, of course. :D

And hey, we're sorry for the scare earlier, but surely you'll forgive us, right? Because… we're brilliant. XD

Patient AN: Brilliant trolls, that is. Though it seems we may have to step up our game in the future…

UPDATED Xomniac AN: Blah, no one took the bait. We're off our game XP

"Tow, tow, tow your boat, gently 'cross the maelstroms—"

"'Gently' my ass!" I moaned as I held on for dear life to the side of the rowboat. Damn it, I hadn't been seasick once in the past six months, I was not going to break my streak—hurp!—now!

SPLASH!

"Ergh…" Even if the damn thing was moving faster than any rowboat was ever meant to go…

"Aww, what's wrong, Cross, got a weak stomach?" Lassoo chuckled as he leered over my shoulder.

"I've got some motion-sickness medicine if you want it!" Chopper offered, before lowering his hoof with a hesitant look over his shoulder. "Though… all of this motion might have made it unstable…"

"NICE CATCH-22, doc!"

"So there's a design flaw, sue me!"

"Well, if you're gonna ralph, normally I'd recommend you doing it over the edge." Franky grimaced as he glanced at the waters frothing below us. "But honestly, given how fast these things are moving, that might not be the best of ideas. What goes around comes around and all that, ya know?"

"If I get puke in my face, then you're all going for a swim!" Boss barked indignantly over his shoulder as he all but dug through the maelstroms' savage waters. "And would the rest of you cram it already!? This is a lot more complicated than just bullrushing through the water, I need to concentrate to keep us from getting sucked under, damn it!"

"My sincerest apologies…" I moaned miserably as I clutched at my stomach. "I'll try and stay quiet as my gut crawls out of my mouth…"

"Much appreciated! Now, hang on, we've got a bit one comin' right at us!"

I hastily clamped down on the boat's edge as we went over yet another wave. Damn it, it was one thing to go through rough weather on a tub as big and strong as Merry, but in a boat this small, the effect was way—urp!

Ugh, how the hell did I get in this mess in the first place…

Oh, right, it was my idea.

-Flashback-

"So." Franky cocked an eyebrow as he watched Boss pump the last of the water out of Chopper. "How long do we have until Doc Monster—?"

"Soundbite—!" I started hastily.

"EVERYBODY HAD MATCHING TOWELS!"

I hung my head with a moan. "Ugh… and now I can't even gag you to shut you up, perfect."

"Bleh!"

Franky sent a curious glance our way, eyebrow still cocked, before looking back at our non-human comrades. "Aaanyway… how long until the little guy wakes up?"

"Ah…" I glanced upwards as I tapped my chin in thought. "Well, seeing as his body is exhausted from undergoing a huge amount of stress, normally it would take a while to recover."

"But…?" Lassoo prompted.

"But," I nodded in agreement as I shot an uncomfortable glance at the battleships flanking the Bridge. "Right now, it's better that we be hauling conscious dead-weight into a battlefield than unconscious. Sooo… Boss, you might wanna step back a bit."

I cleared my throat as the Dugong backed off, and once he was a safe distance away…

"Chopper, if you wake up right now, I promise that when I die I'll donate my body to science!" I barked, already in pre-flinch.

"I WANT THAT IN WRITING!"

I wasn't disappointed. Nobody even blinked as Chopper snapped up into a sitting position, a mad glint in his very, very conscious eyes. The next second, however, he blinked the madness away… and promptly flopped onto his back. It took a minute of struggle for him to properly process the situation, and once he sent a fearful glance my way. "Um… how… bad was it?"

"Nowhere near as bad as we thought," I reassured him. "We'll cover the details later, but for now, you can rest assured that you didn't hurt anyone except our enemies, so don't worry about it."

Franky coughed something under his breath, but Boss was quick to shut him up with an elbow in his side. Chopper didn't notice as he nodded, clearly mollified, but frowned as he tried to force his body to move. Key word being 'tried', and when he got only a few errant twitches in response, the frown turned into an outright grimace. "How much fighting do we have left?"

"Mmph…" I grunted as I wavered my hand back and forth. "The worst is over, but we're taking a step down from quality for a massive step up in quantity real fast."

Chopper glanced upwards, his eyes darting back and forth in thought, and after a moment he attempted to shift onto his side, the inevitable failure drawing an aggravated sigh from his lips. "Alright. Look in my backpack, there should be a metal-plated tool roll in there that has my syringes in it. You're looking for a red-filled one labelled J-52."

"Let me guess…" I mused as I complied with his instructions and held up the needle in question, tapping out any air bubbles in it. "Adrenal serum? And going by these very clear skull-labels you have on it… experimental?" His silence was answer enough. "How much of a blowback are we talking here?"

"By my estimates and the current state of my body, I'd say…" Chopper mused. "It'll energize me for twelve hours, then I'm going to sleep like a corpse for twice as long. Sound like a good cost-benefit?"

"If this works?" I scoffed. "I'll use you as a plushie once we're done, for all I care. Now, how do I get this into you?"

"You need to find a vein on me somewhere, preferrably my arm." The human-Zoan shifted his arm slightly, scowling at it. "It'll be a bit hard because of my fur, but—!"

Before he could say anything further, Franky snatched the syringe out of my hand, flipped it into a reverse grip and slammed into Chopper's chest.

"YEARGH!" Chopper howled as he shot to his hooves—no, feet, he was in Muscle Point—and ripped the syringe out of his chest before snarling in the cyborg's face. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU DAMN ASSHOLE!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA JUST HOW BONE-DEAD STUPID THAT KIND OF A STUNT IS?! YOU JUST BROKE THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH IN A DOZEN DIFFERENT WAYS, I SHOULD SUE YOU FOR MALPRACTICE!"

"First off, I never took no hypocritical whatever, and second, it worked, didn't it?" Franky huffed as he crossed his arms, entirely unaffected by my crewmate's fury. "'Sides, it works faster that way anyway; I've got enough experience where ODs are concerned to know that."

"Yoooouuuu…" Chopper snarled as he strangled the air above Franky's shoulders.

"UH, 'scuse me? Any other time, I'D JOIN IN THE BANTER, BUT WE HAVE A SITUATION!" Soundbite chimed in. "HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GET TO that bridge without passing Luffy's DUEL TO THE DEATH? 'CAUSE I DON'T KNOW about you guys, but I DON'T LIKE OUR ODDS!"

The reindeer twitched for a moment before huffing and shrinking back down to Brain Point. "To be continued…"

"Hmph," Boss snorted. "I could get there easily, but I see your point. The rest of you can't Tidal Swim, and there isn't a boat in a hundred miles that can withstand those hell-pools." To punctuate the point, a passing seabird landed on the waters—and was promptly sucked in with nary a squawk.

I allowed a smirk to come over my expression as I scanned the docks. "Oh, now, I wouldn't quite say that." My smirk widened as I caught sight of my intended target and pointed. "Look, see? There's a rowboat we can use."

Boss eyed the rinky-dink tub for a second before affixing me with a flat look. "I've said this plenty of times before, usually half-joking, but now I say it with the utmost sincerity: You're mad."

"Do I need to give your head another check, Cross, because I will!" Chopper concurred.

"Now, now, hear me out," I said placatingly. "I realize that this must sound insane, but really, all we need to do to make that vessel seaworthy is say four simple words!"

"Oh, yeah?" Boss cocked a thoroughly unimpressed eyebrow, which was quite a feat, seeing as he didn't actually have brows. "And what would those words be?"

Upon that prompting, I spun on my heel and pointed. "Franky, do the—!" My words died in my throat when I realized that Franky was, in fact, gone. "Thing… what the—?"

"Gimme a second, will you?" the voice of the cyborg in question spoke up—from the direction of the boat!?

Five jaws crashed through the dock as we snapped our heads around and observed the result of taking our eyes off of Franky for ten seconds.

"I'm not quite satisfied with the veneer on the aft side…" the shipwright-cum-mob-boss groused as he ran his hand over the now deluxe-grade rowboat's hull.

I gaped for a second longer before forcing my jaw to snap shut. "Franky? You're nitpicking after you just turned a flimsy, common rowboat into the most downright awesome rowboat outside of Mariejois in ten seconds flat!" I pointed out, too awestruck to be exasperated.

"Nine-point-six-five seconds, actually," Franky snorted in disgust. "That fight with the little guy took it out of me. I mean, you can tell just from looking at my work!"

We all gave the rowboat—nay, the miniature ship!—a look before Boss coughed uncomfortably. "Alright, I'll bite: what makes this boat so subpar in your eyes?"

"Well, just for starters, no gun emplacement."

Boss raised a flipper and opened his mouth before slowly closing it. "…Withdrawn. Because I have no response to that," he muttered.

"I don't think there is a response to that…" Chopper offered.

That managed to get my brain into gear. "I can think of one." So saying, I snatched up a nearby coil of rope and tossed it to Boss.

"Strap up," I grinned eagerly. "It's time for us to go out there and be Big Damn Heroes."

My grin grew wider in response to the ones everyone was now sporting.

-Present-

Another lurch shook me out of my reminiscing, and I looked up to see how much time I had left before I got off this legitimately psychotic ride.

The bad news on that front was that the World Government clearly didn't want anybody unwelcome getting even close to the Bridge of Hesitation, because these damn whirlpools were massive and we were a hell of a ways away.

Hell, it looked like we were barely even halfway there!

In an attempt to distract myself, I began considering exactly what I could and would do to Spandam once we got there, but my thoughts were cut off yet again, only this time, it was on account of the smoke and muzzle flashes that started showing up along the top of the Bridge.

And that could only mean one thing.

"Looks like your girls are running into some resistance," Franky said, voicing my own conclusion.

I nodded in numb agreement as I felt cold sweat run down my neck along with the saltwater spray. "Here's hoping that they're strong enough to either hold the line or break their enemies until we get there."

'Or else we're screwed,' I didn't add.

-o-

"Captain?"

"Mmm?"

"You do realize that the only reason I haven't mutinied is the fact that we're currently experiencing a bullshit amount of good luck, worthy of the Straw Hat Pirates, right?"

"Mmm-hmm…"

"Just wanted to check." With that, the Barto Club's first mate stood up from the prow and started walking aft, dutifully observing his crewmates as they went about their respective businesses. It was a somewhat dull job, admittedly, given how nobody had much anything to do, but it was a task that had to be done. After all, somebody had to keep the thoroughly undisciplined crew in check somehow. Even if, more often than not, that 'discipline' resulted in distributing a few extra concussions.

A hand hesitantly tugging on his sleeve broke him out of his patrol, and he looked with no surprise to see Miss Valentine standing there, a vacant look in her eyes.

"Let me guess: you want to know if this is a dream, right?" he deadpanned.

"Can you really blame me for asking more than once when we're in a situation like this?" she droned, her voice utterly broken.

"More than once, maybe not." His already flat expression grew ever flatter. "But once a minute for the past five minutes? That's a little much."

"We're sailing through the Calm Belt, being towed and guarded by Sea Kings," the chocolatier droned as she lifted an arm up to point at the half-dozen aquatic behemoths flanking the Cannibal.

Gin warily eyed the titans. Indeed, as Valentine had said, the Cannibal was being towed by a number of Sea Kings. Adolescents, admittedly, going by how they were only about as big as Marine Battleships as opposed to small mountains, but Sea Kings nonetheless. Said Sea Kings were pulling the Cannibal through the unnaturally placid waters of the Calm Belt via a combination of ropes and barrier-harnesses that they were biting into.

It was an incredible sight, an impossible sight, but it was a real sight nonetheless, no matter how much Gin's much-abused sanity protested.

"No, Valentine, once again: this is not a dream," Gin emphasized firmly. "Now, if you wouldn't mind doing me a favor and breaking the cycle?"

Valentine blinked slowly before nodding lethargically. "Alright, then, in that case…" the ex-assassin muttered before turning her focus over to her partner. "Mr. 5," she called out. "I think we may have to try letting go of our grudge against the Straw Hats."

The bomb-man looked up from the revolver he was cleaning with a surprised blink. "What makes you say that?"

Valentine returned her gaze to the Sea Kings with a heavy gulp. "Because the only way that we could have ever been even half this lucky is if their stupid good fortune rubbed off on us big time. Or hell," she chuckled in a distinctly unhinged manner. "If even the slightest speck of it brushed off on us, for that matter…"

Gin's expression became wary, and he took a careful step back. "Oookay," he bit out as he took Valentine's shoulders and gently turned her towards the forecastle. "Why don't you go ahead and lie down for a while? Until the world starts making sense again, yeah?"

Valentine's head bobbed like… well, a bobblehead as she ambled forwards, her unstable smile still plastered in place. "Sure thing," she breathed as she ambled away. "I'll just go count adolescent Millennial Dragons."

Gin watched her go with no small amount of pity; at least until he felt a needle jab into his temper in the form of a particular voice.

"Can I go sleep forever, too?" Miss Goldenweek asked in her usual dead tone. "Not because I'm unhinged, mind you, I'm just bored."

"No. Get back to work."

Goldenweek's expression somehow becomes even flatter. "Doing what?" she demanded as she spread her arms.

Gin steamed for a moment before turning away and marching back up to the prow. Once there, he whistled and called out. "How's it looking, Apis?"

The Whisper-girl smiled and waved from the head of the Sea King she and her more normal mount were riding. "Fine, thanks! They say we should reach our destination by noon tomorrow!"

"And… you're sure we can trust your new friends?" Gin questioned with an uncomfortable glance at the monumental entities around them.

Apis smiled kindly. "Of course! After all—" She leaned forward and patted the cow-like head of the Sea King she was riding. "They're childhood friends with Mohmoo, and Mohmoo's a new friend of mine! Right, Mohmoo?"

The relatively small Sea King leaned into the girl's hand with a pleased—if excessively loud—'moo'.

Gin cocked his eyebrow as he observed the odd trio and thought back to the circumstances that had led to the bovine Sea King becoming an acquaintance of the Barto Club.

A few hours back, when the Cannibal had been surrounded by Sea Kings and about to be made lunch, he and everyone who hadn't been part of Bartolomeo's mafia before forming a pirate crew, along with almost half of those who had, had come very, very close to bashing their captain's face in, barriers or no, for leading them into the deadliest of oceans without any significant plan of survival in mind.

All but one: though Lindy had seemed murderous, probably out of concern for Apis, the Whisper-girl in question had screamed out, using both her voice and powers to plead with the Sea Kings to leave them alone.

Remarkably, they had paused in response to the outcry and actually regarded one another with what had appeared to be confusion. Then the cow had piped up on their behalf, apparently saying something about how 'she seems nice' and the next thing they knew, the Barto Club found themselves being questioned about why they were in the Calm Belt, or rather 'the Nest', as they apparently called it. And equally remarkably, while they were rather infuriated upon learning about the pirates' reasons for entering the Grand Line, the focus of their rage wasn't them.

Apparently, for reasons that they merely described as 'a promise', there was no small amount of bad blood festering between the Sea Kings and the World Government, even if said grudge was only one-sided. As such, the Sea Kings found the idea of sticking one to their apparently age-old foe, however tangentially, to be supremely appealing.

As such, Mohmoo had quickly gathered up several of his brethren and recruited their aid in towing his new friend and her friends through the Sea King nest, to a location where the pirates would be able to hunker down until the search for them was over.

With that in mind, Gin half-smiled and nodded at Apis before turning to look back at the ex-Baroque Works Agents on deck. "And this destination of yours, you sure it'll be safe?"

"Almost positive," Miss Goldenweek called up as she started on another rice cracker. "The World Government doesn't keep track of Cactus Island; it was an unnamed, uninhabited island up until four years ago, when Baroque Works made it a base. Pirates had a one-in-seven chance of going there, which was good enough to make it a bounty hunter nest, and barely any civilians who passed through it actually lived to tell of it on account of how the next island down that chain is basically a dead-end. You can guess from the fact that we made good money off of it until the Straw Hats interfered that nobody really strong ever showed up there."

"And now that Baroque Works is finished, the town is either abandoned or, more likely, being used as a refuge by our failed agents," Mr. 5 picked up as he reconstructed his pistol. "Nobody will think to look for us there unless they were part of Baroque Works, and personally?" He finished the procedure by locking the gun's cylinder back into place. "I doubt that anyone who'll be in the Mutt's vicinity will fit that bill."

Gin nodded in reassurance before turning a smirk on his captain. "Hear that, Captain? It sounds like we might just make it out of this shitfest you dropped us into alive after all! Ain't that grand?"

"Mmph mu," the pirate captain growled through the bandages he was practically mummified in with a roll of his eyes.

Gin allowed himself a chuckle, but looking back at the crew, it appeared that there really wasn't anything more for him to do as the de facto quartermaster; no weather or navigation problems, no worry of attack, not even any rambunctiousness to quash. They were currently making ludicrously good time and managing to go around slightly less than half the world in little more than a day. It was… awe-inspiring, really. He was actually preparing himself to take a leaf out of Goldenweek's book and spend the next few hours napping—

"You know, Valentine forgot something," a very deliberately calm voice spoke up tersely.

Gin and Bartolomeo snapped their attention over to Mr. 5, who'd joined them on the prow and was staring off the starboard quarter with a spyglass.

"…And what would that be, dare I ask?" Gin questioned.

"It's pretty simple, really…"

Without warning, the Cannibal suddenly lurched to a halt, tossing almost half of the Barto Club on their asses and staggering the rest.

The resultant confusion sufficed to break Bartolomeo's concentration, and caused the makeshift barrier harnesses the Sea Kings had been biting into to dissipate; and while Mohmoo stayed frozen ahead of the galleon, apparently paralyzed, his friends wasted no time in diving into the water and disappearing from sight.

Slowly and painfully, the rest of the crew got back on their feet, with Gin groaning and shaking his head as he tried to get his wits back. "What the hell—?"

"If the Straw Hats' luck really rubbed off on us…" Mr. 5 grit out as he continued to stare into the distance, all but throttling his spyglass in the process. "It means that all their luck rubbed off on us. The good, and the bad. Case in point?" The ex-assassin lowered the tool with a heavy swallow. "The reason that the Sea Kings just ran away is that the Kuja Pirates and their Yuda serpents are heading straight for us."

The lack of response from most of the crew had a substitute in the form of Miss Goldenweek going pale and her ricecracker falling from her numb fingers. Everyone, Gin included, turned to her for clarification.

The painter swallowed heavily as she fought to keep her nerve. "That's the crew of Boa Hancock. The Snake Princess of Amazon Lily, the Pirate Empress, the world's most beautiful woman…" She took a fearful step back from the horizon. "…And the only female among the Seven Warlords of the Sea."

There was a moment of silence as everyone processed the implications of that statement, and then…

"WHAAAAAAT?!"

The Cannibal practically leapt into the air from the sheer force of the crew's outcry.

"AGAIN!? SERIOUSLY!?" Gin roared, his gaze turned towards the heavens. "SCREW THREE TIMES, THIS IS NOTHING SHORT OF ENEMY ACTION ON A DIVINE SCALE, PLAIN AND SIMPLE!"

"Preach it, brother…" Mr. 5 sighed as he drew his revolver and started repeatedly spinning its cylinder. "This just ain't funny. Once is one thing, but twice? Leave this kind of madness to the Straw Hats, they're the ones who like it."

"What do we do, what do we do, what do we do!?" Apis repeated to herself as she shook her head frantically, so deep in her panic that she didn't notice Lindy doing her best to calm her as he flew back onto the boat.

However, as the Barto Club all ran around in varying states of panic, it was their captain's reaction that was by far the most pronounced; without a hint of warning, he suddenly tore off his bandages with an incredulous roar as he stood tall and proud.

"ALRIGHT, YOU YELLOW-BELLIED BITCHES, ENOUGH WHINING FOR MOMMY! IN CASE YOU ALL HAPPENED TO FORGET, WE'VE GOT A WARLORD COMING DOWN ON OUR ASSES! ALL HANDS TO STATIONS! GRAB YOUR ARMS AND PREPARE FOR BATTLE!" the sharp-toothed pirate bellowed, drawing all attention to him. "THAT MEANS RIGHT NOW, YOU BAND OF FUCKING LIMP-DICKS!"

"How in the hell are you not even fazed by the death sentence bearing down on us?!" Goldenweek demanded incredulously.

"Ooooh, trust me, I am scared shitless right now," Bartolomeo chuckled as he pointed at his visibly trembling legs. "But! If I've learned anything from the Straw Hats' exploits, it's that in situations like this, where your death is all but guaranteed no matter what the hell you do? You've only got two options: curl up in a puddle of your own piss, or face it head-on. Now…" Bartolomeo's grin widened tauntingly. "I don't know about the rest of you shit-for-spines…" He rapped his fist on his abdomen. "But I'm clean out of piss from earlier! SO! Who's with me!?"

For a few seconds, the pirates of the Barto Club were silent as they processed their captain's words, but soon enough they found enough vim and vigor to raise their fists and swords to the air and roar with bloodlust.

"You realize that we're all going to die, right?" Gin deadpanned as he absent-mindedly spun the ball-tipped tonfas he'd drawn from somewhere.

Bartolomeo dropped his smirk in favor of a scowl. "Yeah, true enough… but with any luck? We'll be able to do one thing that that coward Krieg never managed with Hawk-Eye."

"Oh yeah?" The Cold-Hearted Demon cocked an eyebrow out of morbid curiosity. "And what's that?"

Bartolomeo re-donned his grin, only this time with a feral gleam in his eyes. "We're gonna make that cocky bitch remember our names for the rest of her life even if it's the last damn thing we do."

Gin stared at his captain in stunned silence before eagerly mirroring his expression. "Aye-aye, sir!"

Bartolomeo held his grin for a moment as he watched his first mate run off to coordinate the crew before adopting a scowl as he observed the speck approaching on the horizon.

"Sorry, Straw Hats…" he muttered to himself. "I know you need all the support you can get, and I'd cheer you on if I could, but right now…"

He bared his teeth as he cracked his knuckles.

"I've got my own damn problems to worry about."

-o-

SLAM! "AGH!"

CRACK! "GAH!"

Conis and Vivi grunted in pain as they were flung onto their backs, taking the opportunity to catch their breath and gather their wits.

"I take it that you're not having an easy time either?" Conis groaned as she sat up and rubbed the back of her head.

"The damn bastard hits like a tank!" the princess wheezed, clutching her stomach as a thoroughly agitated Carue helped pull her to her feet.

"You're lucky…" The gunner shook her head as she pushed herself up. "Mine hits like Luffy."

"Hmph. So, these are the Straw Hat Pirates that have been giving the Corps so much trouble?"

The pirate women winced and shot glares that were equal parts hateful and fearful at the Marines.

Captain Gorilla snorted heavily as he tapped his rifle in his palm. "And Akainu was pushing for Onigumo and Doberman to come instead of us. I'm going to have to push for someone to run an investigation into Commodore Smoker, because if he's been having trouble with capturing these people, then he's either incompetent or he's grown soft."

"BAH! What does it matter, CRASH?" Captain Sharinguru smirked as he slammed his fists together and started grinding them against one another. "So they've managed to make it this far, KA-WHAM, so what? Villains get lucky from time to time, sure, but they will never stand a chance in a straight fight against we heroes of justice, BA-BAM! Today, the angel fallen from grace and the traitorous princess will meet their justified ends here at Enies Lobby, SA-LAM!"

Conis blinked in confusion before casting a hesitant glance at Vivi. "Dooo you have any idea what's wrong with him?"

"I caught a mention of the lie of how I got my bounty, but besides that, I think he's just insane," Vivi grit out irritably, before wincing and clutching a roadrash that had torn clean through one of her arm warmers. "Doesn't stop him from being strong as heck, though. Every time I try attacking him with my Cutters he manages to parry with his abilities and reel me in, and the friction from his wheels is hellish!"

Conis swallowed heavily as she eyed her her own burly opponent, reaching behind her back and clutching the grip of her shotgun. "I understand where you're coming from. I thought that Franky and our crewmates were tough, but this guy is some sort of unholy cross between Yama and Gedatsu. It doesn't matter how many times I shoot him, he just shrugs it off! It's insane!"

Carue swallowed heavily as he interposed himself between his friend and the Marines. "Qua—way thish is gonna be ea—Wha?!" the duck jerked back and squawked in shock as he realized that he was actually speaking instead of… well, squawking.

The sudden dialogue caused everyone, pirate and Marine alike, to pause in shock.

Su was quick to smirk and flick her tail. "Looks like you guys aren't quite so cocky anymore now that we have reinforcements on the way, huh?" she needled.

Sharinguru was equally quick to rally, scoffing and jabbing his finger at the Straw Hats. "Foolish villains, PSHOO! It matters not whether you face us with one or one hundred allies, we—!"

"Less talking, more acting," Gorilla interrupted.

The Wheel-Man promptly snapped his mouth shut with an aggravated growl and stalked forward, the sleeves of his arms blurring into a spin.

Vivi took a hesitant step back before steeling her expression and starting to spin her own Cutter in turn. "Alright," she muttered to herself. "We have help coming now, so we don't have to win anymore, but they're still a mile out and we're not making any progress against these two." The princess angled her head so that she could stare down the bridge and grimaced. "Robin's already halfway down the bridge. Unless we get to her fast…" She winced as she came to the obvious conclusion, and glanced to her avian companion. "Carue, you need to run ahead and save Robin!"

"WHAT!?" Carue screeched in shock. "Are you—!?"

"Carue!" Vivi snapped firmly. "There are almost a hundred Marines between us and her and you're the only one fast enough to make it past them unmolested!"

"B-B-But I can't weave you awone!" Carue shook his head desperately. "If Ah've said it once, Ah've said it a dozen times, Ah won't evah weave—!"

"CARUE!"

The duck choked off his protests, and everyone on the bridge within earshot flinched, for Vivi had pinned the duck in place with a firm glare. "The reason we're in the middle of all of this in the first place is so that we can rescue Robin from being dragged off to hell. If that…" Vivi trailed off with a murderous scowl. "If that dead-man-walking manages to take her away, then everything we've done in the last few hours will be for nothing." However, as swiftly as her fury appeared, it dissipated in place of pure confidence. "We'll be fine, Carue. We'll do what we can do, you do what you can do, alright?"

Carue hesitated for a moment more before he gritted his teeth and pawed his talons on the ground. "Awight… one shecond… ten shteps in one shecond…"

"Stop that duck, HALT!" Sharinguru exclaimed as he swung his fist forward.

"That one's a stretch, Sharinguru," Gorilla said even as he levelled his gun at the bird.

However, the Captains barely even made it a step apiece—

"NOT A CHANCE!"

"GRGH!"/"DAMN!"

—before Conis slammed her forearm into Gorilla's rifle, knocking its barrel upward, while Vivi snagged the full length of her Lion Cutter's chains on the Captain's wheels. The sheer jerk nearly wrenched her off her feet, but it did halt the Wheel-man's charge.

They only managed to stop them for a moment before the Captains managed to shove them back.

"And SHAVE!" the duck called out before flashing out of sight.

But it was more than long enough.

"Damn it!" Gorilla cursed as he watched the oversized fowl tear through the soldiers behind him.

Vivi smirked as she rewound her Lion Cutters. "You lose."

-o-

The world ground to a crawl for Carue as he dashed forward and dodged around the Marines that had just enough awareness to react to him, forcing himself to keep his gaze ahead instead of looking back at his charge and best friend as she faced down two Marine Captains. It hurt like hell, yes, but in the end it didn't change the fact that she was right; if that wretch got away with Robin, the best result they could hope for was a pyrrhic victory, and that was a stretch.

As he ran, the Royal Captain of the Supersonic Duck Squadron reflected on the irony of his current situation: risking his neck and potentially Vivi's in order to save a woman that he would have gladly stomped flat into the earth a thousand times over not even half a year ago. That, alongside the sheer degree to which she had grown on him since then, served to hammer home just how much the Straw Hats had changed him.

He hadn't fully forgiven her, and he knew that Vivi hadn't either, but the fact was that he had at least managed to accept that she wasn't Miss All Sunday anymore, she was just Robin, his crewmate, his… his friend.

Carue grit his teeth together even harder as he took stock of the opposition that remained between him and the object of his mission. Apart from about a dozen or so soldiers standing in his way and the shield-carrying entourage surrounding him, Spandam was straight ahead, and, more importantly, so was Robin. A malicious grin split the duck's lips as he spread his wings, preparing himself to cut Robin away from that damn son of a—

"GET HIM, FUNKFREED!"

Carue blinked in confusion when Spandam suddenly shouted out. 'Funkfreed? What's a Funk—?'

"BARAAAAG!"

"SHIT!" Carue squawked in panic when a mass of white suddenly filled his vision, and he was forced to dig his talons into the stone and flap his wings in order to keep his balance and prevent himself from crashing into whatever the hell had just gotten in his way. The second he came to a halt and reality snapped back into motion, his eyes widened in panic as they processed what was now in front of him, part of his mind flashing back to Cross' words back on the Rocketman:

'The only weapon he has besides his authority is a sword that ate the Elephant-Elephant Fruit. And an elephant, bladed trunk or not, shouldn't be a problem for any of you.'

'Not a problem my unsightly feathered ass!' the duck mentally groused as he stared up at the ivory-tusked behemoth that was glaring down at him. Once he recovered, however, he grit his teeth and glared right back. 'Tch! Well, not like I have a choice here.'

"Outta my way, fatass!" he squawked before sprinting forwards, lashing his talon-armor out and slashing at the elephant's leg.

He then paled in horror when his blades harmlessly skittered off with a flurry of sparks and a clang of steel-on-steel. The duck staggered back as he watched the area he'd struck shimmer like…

"…That's actuawwy steew, isn't it?" he whimpered fearfully.

Funkfreed's only response was to narrow his eyes.

"Yeah, well… how do ya wike dis?!" Carue squawked as he bolted to the side, intent on dodging around the elephant-sword. After all, it was an elephant, how fast could it possibly—?

"WACK!" Carue yelped as he ground to yet another halt when Funkfreed suddenly showed up in front of him again, only rather than a whole elephant, he was in what had to be his hybrid form, seeing as his trunk was a full-on blade and his lower half had morphed into a… serpent-like form that ended in a… hilt…

The duck swallowed heavily as he took a step back. "Yoah twansfomation makes you weawwy fast, doesn't it?"

A hint of a smirk peeked out from beneath the elephant's trunk.

Carue whimpered miserably as he reached up and slammed his visor down over his eyes. "Thish ish gonna suck…"

-o-

Conis juked left as a rifle bullet ricocheted off the stone of the bridge where she'd been standing before, then rolled to the right as the butt of Gorilla's rifle smashed through where her torso should have been.

Once she had some breathing room, Conis swung her blunderbuss out and fired it in a single smooth motion. Still, in spite of her lack of aiming, the loaded shell flew true. At least, it did until Gorilla used his gun to smack a loose piece of debris into the projectile's path and force an early detonation.

"Not again," the gunner groaned as she unslung her Burn Bazooka (so far the only thing her opponent bothered dodging, which he managed with an uncanny degree of agility) and shoved her blunderbuss back in its holster behind her back.

"Complain less, dodge more! INCOMING!"

"Wha—GAH!" Conis gasped as she threw herself to the side, only just managing to dodge yet another bullet—only to notice too late that it wasn't a bullet that struck the bricks, but rather the rifle's butt instead. The angel barely had enough time to shield herself with her Burn Bazooka as Gorilla turned on his heel and swung the rifle into her, the sheer impact jarring Conis through her cannon and sending her crashing onto her ass.

"Ow…" Conis winced as she rubbed the part of her anatomy she'd landed on before casting a glare over her shoulder. "Nice read there, cottontail!"

"Hey, what do you want from me!?" Su snapped back. "The bastard's a walking brick, there's jack and shit in body language for me to read!"

"Still—!"

"So, that's how you're doing it…"

Conis and Su snapped their attention back to Gorilla , who was looking them over with an annoyed expression. "I was wondering how you were managing to dodge or parry every single attack I threw at you. The fox is reading my movements?"

Su hesitated for a moment before sniffing proudly. "Of course I am!" she proclaimed. "We foxes are notoriously smart, and I spent most of my life traipsing through a jungle where everything not me wanted to eat me, so I know how to read a swing." She then furrowed her brow irritably. "Your freakish body's just making that difficult, is all!"

Gorilla dismissed the blatant insult with a snort. "Well, then. If unpredictability is out the window, maybe I should just try the simpler approach."

Conis sagged miserably. "Oh, this is going to—UGH!"

The angel grunted as she blocked yet another swing with her cannon. And then another and another and another, the overly-burly captain pounding away at Conis' defense with a barrage that was at once utterly predictable and nigh unstoppable.

The only thing she could do was keep her Bazooka in the way and backpedal as best she could, and as the dents developing in the barrel demonstrated, that was a stopgap strategy at best.

Meanwhile, the Straw Hats' negotiator was having only marginally more luck with her own opponent.

"JUSTICE GAZELLE!"

That is to say, absolutely no luck at all.

It was only via swift reflexes and a load of luck that Vivi was barely able to catch the swiftly-spinning, leg-powered uppercut on the chain of her Lion Cutters, gritting her teeth as the sheer force of the revolutions hit her even through her weapon, shaking her bones and threatening to grind through the chain. Luckily, the punch also shoved her back a few feet, giving her just enough space to get some spin on her Lion Cutters and swing one of them at the offending and still-extended limb. And like the last few times she'd attempted it, she was barely able to keep the weapon from being torn out of her hands as what had to be metal plating hiding under the Captain's clothes slapped the blade away at high speeds.

"JUSTICE SMASH!"

The princess had only just managed to recover her balance and weapon when she was forced to duck under yet another revolving haymaker that would have plowed straight through her skull. When the Captain's other fist snapped out at her, however, she was forced to swing out her cutters and dig them into the stone before forcefully yanking herself out of the way of the blow, though not without the very edge of the limb managing to score a gash in her cheek.

Once she rolled to her feet and recovered her balance, Vivi hastily started weighing her options as she eyed her opponent.

It was a depressingly short list.

'That armor he's hiding is forcefully deflecting any physical attacks,' she thought grimly, before wincing and snapping a hand to the bleeding scrape on her face. 'And his punches have to be completely dodged or they'll do more than just bruise, and while I might be flexible, he's leagues faster than I am.' She bit out a pained tsk. 'Right, that's it, I'm having Carue teach me Shave after this. And Iron Body from Zoro and Tempest Kick from—!'

"JUSTICE…"

Vivi snapped herself out of her thoughts and braced herself as Sharinguru tensed in preparation for… something. 'Right, plan out how to become a better fighter later, survive now! Hopefully whatever he uses won't be anything too—!'

"SANDSTORM!"

"Wait, wha—!?"

Without warning, the heels of the Captain's feet turned spun into blurs themselves, kicking up a dust cloud at Vivi. It was only years of experience dealing with windblown sand that allowed Vivi to maintain her composure and dodge the air-rending haymaker that followed soon afterwards, but the familiarity of the attack struck Vivi like a bolt of lightning once she had a second to recover.

"Hey!" Vivi pointed an accusatory finger at the Marine. "That move was totally a rip-off of Sora's—!" She suddenly choked off as another realization clicked into place. The princess then groaned in weary resignation. "Oh, Horus… the sound effects, the talk of heroes and villains, naming your attacks 'justice' this and 'justice' that… You… You actually think that you're Sora, Warrior of the Seas, don't you? You think that you're some kind of-of comicbook superhero!"

The Wheel-man paused at that, slowly turning around to face her with his head bowed and his shoulders shaking. At first, she thought he was crying, but then she heard the laughter.

"Hahaha… 'think'? Oh, you foolish, foolish villain…"

Gorilla paused his onslaught as he slapped a hand to his face and groaned. "Oh, perfect, now you've gone and done it."

Sharinguru snapped a finger skyward, and planted his fist on his hip as he bellowed at the sky. "I DO NOT THINK I AM A SUPERHERO, I AM A SUPERHERO!" he proclaimed proudly. "I AM CAPTAIN SHARINGURU, HERO OF JUSTICE AND DEFEATER OF EVIL!" He then swung his finger down so that it was pointing at Vivi's face as he gave her a winning smile. Vivi had to fight to keep from barfing as sunlight glinted off his stupidly shiny white teeth. "Let me tell you something, worthless villain! You think I ripped off Sora, that I think that I am him? YOU HAVE IT BACKWARDS!" He swung his thumb at his chest. "Rather, Sora is I! I am the real-life inspiration for the world-renowned adventures of Sora, Warrior of the Seas!"

Conis blinked at the masked Captain in surprise. "Is… he really that famous?"

"Only partially…" Gorilla groaned as he kneaded the bridge of his nose. "Sora's a composite of the exploits of several different Marine Captains, but Sharinguru's always been a big fan. After he beat a Germa battalion and had the tale published, he got it into his head that he's legitimately a 'hero of Justice'. It's asinine, but I can't say it doesn't keep him motivated."

"Personally, I just say that it's sickening!" Spandam's voice piped up, apparently carried by Soundbite. "Honestly, that buffoon is worse than Kumadori!"

"This may be the only thing that I ever agree with you on," Robin's voice growled out.

The latter voice managed to snap Vivi out of her stunned state, and she shook her head before refocusing on her opponent and crossing her Cutters defensively. "I don't care if you're a hero or a saint, we're still going to beat you down and take Robin back with us."

Unfortunately, that only got Sharinguru to throw his head back and roar anew, only this time his laughter had a distinctly mocking overtone to it. "Oh, you poor, foolish, naïve villain! Know you nothing about how the world works? Allow me to explain the facts!" He pointed at her again. "You and your ilk are the villainous pirates, heinous enemies of justice who represent all that is sick and evil in this world!" He then pointed back at himself and at Gorilla. "And we are the mighty and heroic Marines, defenders of justice and paragons of good! No matter what you try to accomplish, we will lay you low, and once anew JUSTICE will prevail! Why, you ask!?"

Wheels roared over the Captain's body as he pumped his arms back with his fists turned upwards. "BECAUSE HEROES NEVER LOSE!" he declared for all the world to hear.

Vivi twitched slightly at the words, a grimace flashing across her mouth. "If only that were true…" she whispered under her breath. As swift as the grimace came, however, she shook off her forlorn expression in favor of properly analyzing her enemy. "But that's neither here nor there. Right now, what's important is that I know that I'm dealing with a total nutjob, and that's a good thing. You know why?"

The princess allowed a slight smirk to cross her face as she flipped one of her Cutters into a reverse grip and spun up the other. "Because when it comes to dealing with crazy people," she declared proudly. "I have more experience than you can possibly imagine."

"…I do not envy your crew in the least," Gorilla deadpanned as he returned his full attention back to Conis.

"Nor should you," Su agreed sagely.

"After all, they're not for everyone." Conis redoubled her grip on her Burn Bazooka and held it up proudly. "Rather, it's an acquired taste."

And with that, the battles recommenced in earnest.

Meanwhile, however, further down the bridge, the mind of the person who was the entire object of the endeavor was awhirl. No longer did she wish the crew—her crew wasn't risking their lives for her, that train of thought had been banished to oblivion when she heard him speak through Soundbite. No, at this point, she was more worried about whether they would actually be able to reach her in time.

While normally Robin would have been perfectly fine with just being patient and waiting for her friends to rescue her, the fact was that in spite of her protests and struggling she was already over halfway across the bridge, and due to the the shield-toting Marines flanking her and her captor, Usopp had been unable to do more than annoy them.

Robin bit her lip as she weighed her options. Obviously she couldn't fight back physically, not while her handcuffs were binding her arms and, more pressingly, her powers. True, with Funkfreed absent, her chances with resisting were better than ever, but the fact remained that she was being flanked by a number of actually capable soldiers, which meant that if she tried to attack Spandam in any way then she would be met with fierce retribution, or, in the absolute worst case scenario, rendered unconscious to remove any chance of fighting back.

Robin glanced ahead at the far-too-swiftly approaching gate before bowing her head with a shudder of fear. Yes, death was slightly more preferable than waking up in either of the locations beyond, with no hope of ever seeing her crew again.

As for her other options… well, her 'feminine wiles', to put it politely were one tool she'd liberally exploited in the past, but…

Robin shot a single glance at Spandam before shuddering heavily. Even if the target in this scenario weren't an entity even lower than most earthworms, the fact still remained that in all likelihood the only sexual attraction Spandam felt was for himself.

As it stood, the situation seemed to be utterly hopeless… save for one possible option.

Said option was one that Robin had had hammered home more than she'd ever thought possible in her time with the crew; an option that Cross liberally demonstrated time and time again: that words were capable of shattering barriers that no amount of physical force could ever hope to crack. If she could just distract Spandam long enough from his goal, make him concentrate on something other than moving forward…

Admittedly, Spandam's short temper and throbbing ego made it a supremely risky option, but if it was the only way she had to fight back, the only way she could buy her crew the time they so desperately needed? Then she would employ it to the best of her, in her not so humble opinion, well-honed abilities.

'Still, pretty words aside, going by Cross's track record thus far…' Robin glanced upwards with a pained grimace. "This is likely going to hurt.'

"You know," Robin began. "I find it odd that you don't feel at all threatened by CP9."

"Huh?" Spandam turned to her with a genuinely puzzled look. "Why in the world should I be, woman!? It's not like they would ever turn against me, I'm their chief!"

The archaeologist hid a groan at the fact that he hadn't stopped moving before continuing. "I'm simply considering that they're all, in your own words, 'easily superhuman'. Meanwhile, you're someone who literally anyone on this island would be guaranteed to beat in a fight. And as Lucci and his comrades have aptly demonstrated, they are more than capable of directing operations completely independent of you. So the question is…" She tilted her head just so. "What possible reason do they have to refrain from turning on you?"

If Robin was expecting some grand reaction from her statement, she was disappointed when Spandam merely scoffed and brushed her words off. "Please, as if they would ever even consider it! I'm their beloved chief, I'm far too crucial for them to even so much as consider harming me."

Robin's eye twitched slightly as she cast her mind back to a mere few minutes ago. 'Oh perfect, his delusions of grandeur are so powerful that they're actively altering his memories.' Nevertheless, she forced a smirk that held more confidence than she actually felt (in reality, it was taking all of her training to maintain her composure in face of the metal horizon she was approaching) and pressed on. "Really, now? What is it that you do, exactly?"

Spandam tilted his head back with a proud snort. "Why, I'm the one who gives them their missions, of course! I read through the intel collected from the other pols, I decide what's pertinent and what isn't, and then I deploy them! I'm also the one who runs all of the logistics and finances for the missions." He gave a full-body shudder at some unseen memory. "You would not believe the kind of people I've had to brownnose to get the budget I need, especially given the sheer amounts of collateral they tend to leave behind…" As fast as his mood came, it passed. "Furthermore—!"

"Oh, no need, I understand completely," Robin interrupted with a beatific smile. "You're their glorified secretary. How nice."

That struck a nerve with the man, his expression instantly contorting into an angered scowl. But it didn't cause him to stop moving. And as Robin took that in along with the approaching gates, her composure crumbled. As such, her next words weren't so much a calculated barb as they were ramblings born of panicked desperation.

"You're not even capable of denying it, are you? You're nothing but a figurehead for CP9! You're just as worthless without your subordinates as that monster who triggered the Buster Call on Oh—!"

CLICK!

Robin's words died when she became aware of two facts: First, that Spandam was looking at her with an expression of pure and utter hatred, and that second, he was holding a pistol taken from a nearby Marine's belt in his hands and had its muzzle less than an inch from her forehead.

"That… monster… as you called him…" Spandam hissed viciously through clenched teeth. "Was my father."

Robin sucked in a panicked gasp as she realized… she'd fucked up. 'Oh, shit.'

"Chief Spandam! Our orders are to take her in—!"

BLAM! "AGH!"

Everyone on the bridge froze in mixed shock and horror as Spandam fired a round into the (technically) insubordinate Marine's shoulder before returning the gun to its initial aim, all without even glancing to the side.

"The heck is this, pow, some kind of anti-hero gambit or something, wham?" Sharinguru mused in confusion.

"Spandam!" Captain Gorilla shouted. "What the hell do you think you're doing!? The mission—!"

"The mission," Spandam spat venomously without ever diverting his attention. "Is no longer a priority. I've put up with this filthy demon's insolence up until now for the sake of the World Government. But now? Now I couldn't care if she were the bastard brat of one of the Five Elder Stars. From the day I became the highest authority in Enies Lobby, there is one decree I've made that has stood firm regardless of the circumstances: the penalty for insulting my father in front of me…"

He pressed the muzzle of his gun between Robin's thoroughly terrified eyes and pulled the hammer back. "Is immediate execution. Goodbye, Devil Child. It's time for you to rejoin your mother and the rest of Ohara's demons in Hell."

Time seemed to crawl for Vivi as she stared in naked horror at Spandam's finger, which had started the motion that would end Robin's life. Her crewmate was about to die. She was about to witness someone she cared about die. She was about to see someone die because she wasn't strong enough again!

Without even thinking, Vivi's hands started to move. One went to her throat and fumbled with the bulb of metal hanging there, but even as her fingers slipped around it she knew that she'd never be able to get it open in time. As such, her other hand started to rise, reaching out in spite of the obvious futility of the gesture. But she didn't care. She couldn't even begin to care.

"…stop…" The word slipped out of her mouth without her own knowledge.

She had to do something, anything, she couldn't let this happen again, couldn't let it happen ever again!

"Stop…!" the word came again, only this time with more heat, more will.

Vivi panted as she observed the nightmare before her, as she witnessed how completely and utterly she was failing to make a damn difference.

'This isn't fair…' she thought miserably, her mind choking and stalling in despair. 'I-I'm a royal. I'm a princess! I'm a Nefertari! By right and by blood I should be one of the most powerful people in the world…'

Her face twisted up in a combination of fury and misery as her mind was filled with images: Images of a horizon set ablaze, images of a plaza filled with nothing but death, images of lightning and pain.

'So why am I always left feeling so POWERLESS?!'

If time had been crawling before, it completely froze the moment Spandam's finger reached the final millimeter. And as she saw, saw death about to snuff out a person who she'd all but despised twenty-four hours ago, Vivi… quite simply felt something in her mind snap. Something primal, something innate. And before she knew what she was doing—

"STOOOOOOOP!"

A voice roared over the bridge. It was only an instant later that she registered that it was, in fact, her voice.

And though time seemed to resume for the world around her, the same could not be said for the people. Everybody in sight, Marine, Agent, and even her own comrades, were standing completely motionless, some in awkward positions. And one and all, their eyes were wide with fear and confusion.

"What…" Vivi breathed in confusion. "What just—?"

KA-BLAM!

"GAGH!"

The princess was broken out of her shock by an Exploding Star slamming into the face of a Marine who'd been about to swing his sword through her neck.

Said explosion was enough to break whatever spell the bridge had fallen under, prompting the soldiers to scramble back into the defensive positions they'd been using to hide from the Straw Hats' sniper. Or, well… most of them did, anyway.

"W't th' 'ell…?" Spandam ground out through his locked jaw. "Ah 'an't 'ove!"

"And thank God for that," one of the soldiers guarding him scowled as he worked the pistol out of his fingers, while another dragged Robin out of his line of fire, causing her to sigh in relief—and then blink in confusion, as the soldiers made no attempt to force her closer to the Gates of Justice.

"…Ah, not that I'm complaining, but why aren't you taking me to the Gates?" she asked warily.

The nearest soldier rolled his eyes. "Because Spandam gave ironclad orders that nobody is to open the Gates until he's right there in person."

"And despite the fact that he's clearly unstable," another soldier continued. "The only ones who can remove officials from their positions are those with rank or authority higher than theirs."

"Much to our chagrin, as of today," said the one who had retrieved his pistol. "So, now we have to wait for whatever the heck that was to wear off." He cocked an eyebrow at the archaeologist. "And speaking of, since when the heck could your crewmates do that, anyway?"

Robin hesitated slightly before casting a look back at her crewmates that was as much fond as it was bemused. "I was just asking myself that exact same question…"

While Robin was almost too confused to feel relief at the new development, Vivi was in an even worse state on account of how not only was she just as confused as everyone else on the bridge, but Sharinguru and Gorilla had also gotten enough wherewithal back in their minds to renew their assaults. It was all the princess could do to dodge and parry her opponent's blows—and even that was a stretch—as she worked to puzzle out what in the name of Osiris' rotting blue testicles had just happened.

'Everyone stopped…' Vivi forced her thoughts to start at the beginning of it all even as she ducked under a rotating lariat. 'I called for… well, for everyone to stop and they did. Maybe… Maybe I can do it again? Should I try to—AGH!' Vivi's train of thought derailed when she felt Sharinguru's elbow shave off a millimeter from the tip of her nose. 'Right, no choice. Here goes everything!'

"Stop!" she yelled once more, and in response, the Captains… reflexively flinched for a moment before continuing with just as much intensity as before.

Vivi suppressed a groan as she grit her teeth. 'Well, that sure as hell didn't work!' However, as swiftly as anger flashed through her mind she forced it all out via a calming sigh. 'Alright, alright, calm down… think it through. Think back to that feeling, that instant. When I… did whatever it was I did, I felt something like I'd never—!' Vivi marginally started in shock. 'No, no, th-that's wrong… that's wrong, I actually have felt whatever that was before!'

In spite of the onslaught she found herself under, Vivi found her mind's eye being cast back. Back to Rainbase and to Smoker and Tashigi, back to Skypiea and to him. She hadn't paid it much mind at those times, her adrenaline and the situations had clouded her memories, but thinking back, her tirades against them, her using the name of her ancestors in spite of how much she loathed them, her speaking with as much force and power as she possibly could…

At first, she'd thought it to be little more than the desperation of the situation combining with the fury of seeing her friends in danger. But now that she thought about it, actually considered it, she realized that it wasn't just desperation. In fact, rather than being any form of emotion at all, what had powered her words that day was nothing short of instinct. Some fundamental, core drive that she'd managed to pull from… somewhere or other.

Vivi bit her lip both out of worry and irritation as she avoided a roundhouse kick from Sharinguru. 'Of course whatever the hell I did required instinct!' she thought sarcastically. 'What else would it need, considering how I'm a person of thought and planning who has as much instinct as a piece of damn plank—!' Vivi forced out another calming sigh. 'Alright… alright, let's try again. I need instinct. I just need to dig deep… deep… okay, let's try… THIS!'

"STOP!" she commanded. This time, Sharinguru legitimately froze instead of flinching, but once again, that moment of pause was just that, a moment, a meager few seconds, before the Captain moved anew. It took Vivi everything she had to keep from spewing out a blue streak worthy of Zoro himself as she parried his ballistic fist.

'ARGH! Four seconds!? That was only worth FOUR MISERABLE SECONDS!?' she howled in her mind. 'You have got to be kidding me! It actually worked this time, but it wasn't even close to being as effective! Damn it, I have it but I still don't have it! What am I missing, what the hell could I possibly be missing!? Think, damn it, think think thi—!' Vivi shoved yet another exasperated sigh from her grit teeth. 'Alright, alright, enough panic, no more panic. Just think it through in a calm and—!'

Without any warning, Vivi froze where she was standing, her eyes blinking in honest surprise. "…oh."

SKRUNCH!

Her eyes then shot wide in shock as her body shook.

Time seemed to freeze as she tried to process what had just happened. In that instant, Vivi became aware of a noise.

'Who… is that?' she thought. 'Who's… screaming?'

Vivi slowly turned her head to the side and blinked in confusion as she saw that the source was Conis, who was desperately screaming at the top of her lungs with tears coursing down her eyes.

'Oh… it's Conis…' Vivi realized. 'But she looks fine. So, why is she…?'

The princess blinked again as she suddenly realized something else: she could feel a slight pinching sensation in her abdomen. Her gaze shifted downwards and slowly she 'ah'd in understanding.

'Oh, I see,' she mentally nodded. 'The reason she's screaming is that I got hit.'

And indeed, the princess had most certainly been hit. To be precise, she had been hit by a rather large fist that had literally buried itself halfway through her abdomen.

As if her noticing her injury were the trigger, time resumed and Vivi was simultaneously spun and flung backward, hitting the stonework of the bridge with a sickening crack and bouncing. She landed again on her side before skidding to a stop. After taking a moment to get some breath back in her lungs, she tried to pull herself to her knees on quivering limbs, only for a shuddering spasm to wrack her body and force her to vomit up a glob of blood and what she desperately hoped was only her last meal onto the stone.

"—IVI!" Conis' voice screamed. Vivi was barely aware of her friend turning and starting to run towards her. She was then vaguely aware of a bipedal clothes-wearing simian moving to stand in her path, impeding her progress.

"Have you forgotten?" Gorilla snorted in irritation. "You're still fighting me."

"Y-You—!" Conis snarled furiously through her tears, but that was all she was able to get out before Gorilla slammed his gun into her Bazooka and forced her into a deadlock.

"Be quiet and watch your friend's execution. You'll be joining her for the crimes you've committed soon enough."

"INDEED, WHA-BAM!" Sharinguru cackled as he stalked up to Vivi. "This, right here, right now, is what I truly live for, DAH-DAH-DAH-DAAAAH! The Hero punishing the Villain, KA-BLAM! Sacred Good triumphing over vile Evil, KA-BOOM! THIS!"

The Captain grinned victoriously as he raised his foot high above Vivi's head and started up a rotation so fast that the very air around it started to ripple.

"IS THE VERY DEFINITION!" he roared at the top of his lungs. "OF JUSTICE! JUSTICE GUILLOTINE!"

And with that, he dropped his heel in a blow that would sever Vivi's head from her neck.

"Stop."

Or rather, that would have severed her head had a single word not frozen Sharinguru in place and killed his rotation dead. It wasn't yelled. It wasn't a scream, it wasn't a plea, it was just a simple word. Or rather… a single command. A command packed packed with so much power and authority that Sharinguru's body didn't have any other choice but to lock up.

And it wasn't just Sharinguru who froze either. Gorilla, Conis, Su, Robin… basically, everyone on the entire bridge found themselves paralyzed again.

"W-What—?" Sharinguru bit out as he tried furiously to get his mouth to work.

"Sorry about that, Conis."

All eyes snapped to Vivi as she slowly worked her way to her feet. "But it's hard enough bringing this power up as it is; as near as I can tell, I can either use it on one or everyone, and I thought it would be for the best to stop Gorilla, too."

Vivi started to move before hissing and casting a pained grimace at her torso. "Ah, damn it. That punch didn't break my skin, thankfully enough, so my insides aren't puréed, but this is still going to be a very nasty scar. It's going to be awhile before I feel confident wearing a bikini again." She shot an exasperated glare over her shoulder at Sharinguru. "You are insanely lucky that Sanji isn't here, you know that?"

"How—!?" the Wheel-man snarled murderously.

Vivi maintained her cool stare for a moment before hanging her head with a sigh. "Honestly? I'm not sure. This is all as new to me as it is to you. But I'm fairly certain that its basis revolves around my instinct as a ruler."

"Ruler's instinct."

All attention within earshot turned to the cloud fox, who was looking at Vivi in a combination of genuine awe and naked terror. "Instinct… it's something that every living being is born with," the cloud fox whispered, the sheer silence of the bridge letting all hear her. "It leads us to food or water, warns us of danger, all kinds of things. But…"

Su slowly shook her head. "Not all are created equal. Some beings… when they're born, their instincts are superior. These beings, their instincts aren't just about survival, they're about leadership. The instinct to rule over others. I've only ever heard of it being found in the likes of Alpha Wolves and Sea Kings. But then again, I suppose that when you consider the existence of people like Wiper and Gan Fall, it's only natural to assume that humans would have it, too."

Vivi nodded in agreement. "All my life, I've known that I would one day rule. It wasn't just from my father telling me, wasn't from my friends or subjects, it was just…" She held her hand up and stared at it as she flexed her fingers. "Something I've known, from the deepest part of my heart. Something basic, something natural. A fact, if you will. The sky is blue, water is wet, and I, Nefertari Vivi, was born to rule. And now…"

Vivi affixed the Marine Captain with a firm look. "Now I can actually use it. I don't know how, but I'm bringing it out, and even if you refuse it with all your heart and soul, I will make you obey the divine right that I have held within me since I was born."

She raised her head proudly as she glared down at the Marine. "I am Princess Nefertari Vivi of Alabasta, and you will respect my authority!"

"…I honestly never expected to ask this question again, but… how does that even make sense?" Robin wondered aloud.

"Tseeheeheeheehee… haven't you been around here for a few years, Robin?"

Attention returned to the Cloud Fox as an eager grin slowly peeked through her fur.

"This ocean is the Grand Line," she whispered reverentially. "There is no need for sense here. What is… just simply is."

"Respect…?"

Vivi blinked in surprise before turning her attention back to Sharinguru, who was shivering in place.

"Respect… your… authorityyyy?" he ground out viciously.

Without any warning, Sharinguru's foot suddenly slammed down and cracked the stone of the Bridge.

"THE ONLY AUTHORITY THAT I RESPECT!" the Captain roared as he ripped the blade at his side from its sheath. "IS THAT OF JUSTICE!" And with that, he leapt at Vivi, his sword-arm extended and his wrist rotating so rapidly that the blade became a disc of pure steel and death. "JUSTICE MAELSTROM!"

Vivi tensed in preparation to bl—no, that sword was equivalent to instant death, definitely something to dodge. Before she could get a chance, however, a grenade came whistling in. The Wheel-man just barely noticed and managed to raise his attack between it and him before it detonated.

Of course, given the suction of the Justice Maelstrom, the resulting blast hit him all at once, knocking him out of the sky and sending him bouncing off the Bridge, scorched medium rare.

"I'm very sorry if you wanted him for yourself, Vivi."

The Princess looked over at Conis, who was smiling lightly as she reloaded her grenade launcher.

"But you see," the gunner continued pleasantly. "The fact is that he does seem like a pretty tough enemy, and I'd like to inflict some pain on him myself. Would you terribly mind if I took him off your hands?"

"We'll lay an absolute world of hurt on him, we promise!" Su smirked sadistically.

Vivi blinked in surprise for a moment before smiling and shrugging indifferently. "Fine by me, that lunatic's ramblings were starting to grate at my ears. Meanwhile…"

Vivi's expression turned cold as she turned her attention behind Conis. "Freeze," she ordered.

And so it was that Captain Gorilla froze mid-aim, barely staying on his feet.

The Princess smiled even as she jerked her Lion Cutters into her hands and started spinning them in preparation. "I'll handle this overgrown ape. Altogether, I think that for the two of us it should only take… what, thirty seconds?"

"Eh…" Conis wavered her hand side to side. "Personally, I'd prefer to call it a full minute. It's better to finish with time to spare than to be late, you know."

"Fair, fair. Now, then…" Vivi narrowed her gaze. "Shall we?"

Conis' expression hardened as she slammed her fist into her palm. "Let's."

And with that, the pirates began to approach their opponents.

-o-

Though it took him a moment to shake off the daze of the attack that had disrupted him, the Wheel-Marine Sharinguru was swift to get his bearings back and take notice of the pirate headed his way. His response to her approach was to snort indignantly. "Fool, SHING!" Sharinguru roared as he jabbed his blade at her. "Do you think that I, a Hero of JUSTICE, would ever allow—"

BLAM!

"GAH!" The Marine captain was promptly cut off by another of Conis' explosive shells going off in his face, causing him to reel back and sputter.

"Allow? Oh, I never thought you'd allow anything," Conis said, smiling sweetly even as she returned her grenade launcher to her back. "That doesn't mean you'll succeed. I am Conis of the Straw Hats, and that injury you inflicted on my friend?" Her expression promptly turned thunderous as she whipped two of her pistols out and held them at the ready. "That was the last hit you'll land today."

"You wish, pirate, SLAM!" Sharinguru declared, shoving himself to his feet and spinning his legs beneath him. "For you see, TRUE JUSTICE will prevail today!" And with that, the Marine shoved his feet against the ground and took advantage of the spin from his heels to give him an extra-powerful burst of speed.

Conis kept her stance firm as she followed him with her guns. "Pistol…"

"BULLETS CANNOT HARM ME!" Sharinguru cackled as he brought his blade before him and started spinning it. "JUSTICE MAEL—!"

"Lux."

"—GAGH!" The Captain promptly lost his stance when a flash of utterly blinding light stabbed into his eyes, burning his retinas and causing him to crash into the bridge and roll to a halt as he flailed and clawed at his eyes. "YEARGH, WHAT THE HELL!?"